DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

Search

 

Submit A Story

Organise your studio or set with this DIY equipment cart

by Leave a Comment

Equipment cards for use in the studio or on-set can be expensive. REALLY expensive. Of course, those carts often need to hold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment. For a small studio or low budget set, though, you don’t need to go to such expense. There are many other alternatives out there that can work just as well that you can customise for your own needs.

In this video from the guys at The Film Look, we see how they organise their own DIY equipment cart. Based off a standard $69 utility cart, it’s very functional after a little tweaking and customisation. And it allows you to keep all your kit organised on set so that you know where everything is, as well as give you a mobile tabletop for gear you’re using.

[Read More…]

Objective & Subjective Lighting – What it is and how to do it

by Leave a Comment

Like many things in life, there’s no right or wrong way to learn photographic lighting… but I do believe there are easy ways and hard ways to not only understand it, but more importantly get better at it.

I think every creative discipline evolves, but photography sees more significant jumps in its evolution due to it being so uniquely tied to technology. Every frame we capture is taken with a camera and that camera technology is evolving on a daily basis. Every frame we then have to develop is primarily produced through software and that too evolves on a daily basis. The tools that we use to create our work are constantly changing but I feel that the way we learn some of the techniques associated with these tools do not.

[Read More…]

Here are some essential lighting terms in photography you need to know

by Leave a Comment

Learning how to use artificial lighting in your photography can be overwhelming for any beginner. Apart from familiarizing yourself with new equipment, you also have to study how light behaves in different scenarios. To help you start with studio photography, Mark Wallace of Adorama TV teaches you a few essential lighting terms you’ll need to grasp to succeed.

[Read More…]

5 ways to achieve that wet skin look in your photos

by Leave a Comment

Shiny skin in photos is becoming more and more popular all the time and whether it’s for sports, beachwear or even regular fashion, that metallic skin sheen is being seen everywhere. Long gone are the days where we’re desperately trying to matt-down skin to avoid the shine, now makeup artists are regularly being asked to produce the ‘dewy’ skin look.

[Read More…]

How to use light painting to make your own unique DIY backgrounds in-camera

by 3 Comments

Coming up with unique and interesting backgrounds can be a challenge, especially in the studio. But it can be easier than you think. All it takes is a little light in the darkness. Light painting is typically seen out on location. The wonderful work of photographers like Eric Pare and Zach Smidt shows that off amazingly well. You can use it in the studio, too, though.

In this video, Joe Edelman shows us how we can use light painting to create some pretty cool unique backgrounds in the studio. Joe shoots Olympus cameras, which offer an advantage over other brands when it comes to this kind of thing with the Live Composite feature. It’s not essential to the technique, but it definitely makes life easier.

[Read More…]

Making it work: Studio photography in small spaces

by 1 Comment

I’d love to have access to a massive studio space with all of the latest amenities. Who wouldn’t?

But in many cases, a living room is all you need to get the dynamic shot you’re looking for. Nearly all of my favorite studio shots were done with my Oliphant backdrops in a 10′ x 15′ room.

You might be wondering, “What if my walls are red? What if I have low ceilings? What if my carpet is burgundy?” Don’t stress — there are simple ways around all of these problems, and I’m here to walk you through them.

[Read More…]

Five easy ways to use V-Flats in the studio

by 4 Comments

V- Flats, screens, flags, boards, whatever you want to call them. They can be really inexpensive but have a huge value in portrait photography in the studio.

I bought these polystyrene sheets from a local DIY shop costing around £40 for the pair. I used shelving brackets on the base to help give some level of sturdiness and make sure they are free standing. Not the best solution for the base, but, in two years they’ve never fallen, never broken and have worked a treat.

[Read More…]

Use these eight warm-up poses to kick off your next portrait session

by 3 Comments

Everybody handles their portrait sessions differently. Some just jump right into it while others take a little time to warm up. Typically, I’m of the latter variety, especially as most of my subjects aren’t models who are used to being in front of the camera. They’re regular people, they need to get comfortable, and I want to see how their face and body react to the light.

And that’s what this video from Michael Zelbel at Good Light is all about. These are 8 warm-up poses he goes through with his subjects to get them comfortable in front of the camera, see how the pose affects their body, and how it responds to the light.

[Read More…]

Elinchrom launches the ELB 500 TTL – Their most powerful portable TTL strobe ever

by 10 Comments

TTL seems to have become all the rage for big strobes the last few years. There are now TTL strobe options from Godox, Profoto and even Cactus, amongst others. Now Elinchrom up their game with the new ELB 500 TTL; A 500Ws pack & head system offering TTL, High Speed Sync all the way up to 1/8000sec, and 400 full power flashes on a single charge for use both on location and in the studio.

[Read More…]

How colour contamination may be ruining your photographs and how to fix it

by 2 Comments

Whether you’re aware of the correct terminology or not, you have likely experienced this colour contamination happening in your photographs already.

Put simply, colour contamination is when one colour is affected by the presence of another colour in close proximity. So for example, if you’re photographing two friends side by side, one of them is wearing a white t-shirt and the other one is wearing a red t-shirt, the white t-shirt will likely take on a pinkish tone due to the fact that it’s receiving bounced light from the red t-shirt close by.

[Read More…]

Recent Posts